Door lift device



R. W. JOY

i DOOR LIFT DEVICE Dec. 30, 1941.

Filed April 21, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ATTRNEY Dec. 30, 1941. R. w. JOY

DOOR LIFT DEVICE Filed April 21, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY Dec. 30, 1941.

R. W. JOY

DOOR LIFT DEVICE Filed April 2l, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INENTOR HoZ'erZ h/l/oy BY I 1. W ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 30, 1941 DOORn LIFT DEVICE Robert W. Joy, Berwick, Pa., assignor to American Car and Foundry Comp corporation of New Jer any, New York, N. Y., a sey Application April 21, 1939, Serial No. 269,294

11 Claims.

This invention relates to lift devices for doors in general and in particular to sliding doors adapted for railway car use.

The trend in the last few years has been to provide all doors with lift devices in order that the door may normally be supported in frictional engagement with its track to prevent longitudinal shifting but may be raised when desired upon anti-friction devices to roll easily to the open or closed position. Such lift devices have been usually placed at each lower corner of the door and operated from a common lever, but such devices have been excessively expensive due to the duplication of the lift devices at each lower corner of the door. The majority of these dual lift devices cannot practically be appliedto old door constructions although it would be very advantageous if the old door constructions could be modernized by equipping the doors with lift devices.` It is an object, therefore, of the present invention to provide a new and improved door lift device which may be readily applied to either newly constructed or existing doors.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved door lift device which may be located at only one corner of the door and operable to lift the door about the supporting device at the `other corner of the door acting as a fulcrum.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved door lift device of simple compact construction utilizing a powerful leverage of the first class to lift the door.

These` and, other objects of the invention .will be apparent to persons skilled `.in .the `art from a study of the following description and accompanying drawings, in which: Y

Figure 1 is an elevational `view of a part of a car door with the improved lifting device applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevational View of the lifting device with a portion thereof in section to more clearly disclose theguides for the roller axle;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view` of the device taken substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional View taken substantiallyon line 4 4 of Fig. 2;

Fig.` 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 5--5 of Fig. 4, and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 5 but showing the mechanism in door lifted position.

Referring now to ,theV drawingsin `detail,it will beseenwthatv the;l door 1ifting,device hassbeen shown as applied to the leading edge of a car door, which door, as indicated in Fig. 1, is of conventional form having corrugated panel 2, front stile 3 and rear stile 4 joined together by the panel and by the bottom rail E which is of any suitable formation. The rear or trailing edge of the door is supported upon any conventional type of antifriction supporting device such as indicated at 8, while the leading edge normally rests upon the door track T but may be lifted therefrom by the improved lifting device l0 later to be described. The improved lifting device is so constructed and attached to the door that the lifting edge of the door will be frictionally supported upon the track with the door lower edge parallel to the track and the leading edge paralle1 to the sealing means on the car. When the lower corner at the leading edge of the door is lifted such lift will take place about the conventional antifriction device 8 acting as a fulcrum, thus it will be seen that the lifting device need lift only one-half of the door weight and that it will during the lifting exert a, powerful leverage lto break the doors sealing engagement with the car structure.

The improved door lifting device is housed within a generally box shaped casting having a rear wall l2, front wall I4, side walls `lli and a top wall I8, all joined together to form a downwardly opening cavity. As clearly shown, the side walls I6 are restricted throughout a portion of their height by being offset inwardly as at 2li, which offset is formed with round nosed lugs 22 for a. purpose later to be described. The side walls are also formed inside the casting with flanges 24 and 26, staggered with respect to each other` and located respectively adjacent the front and rear walls of the casting. These flanges merge into the side walls above the restrictions 20 but are continued below the restrictions as at 28 and 30 respectively, thus in effect forming with the front and rear walls slots in which levers later to be referred to will work. The front wall of the casting is formed adjacent its lower central portion with an offset 32 providing a downwardly opening U-shaped pocket, while the rear Wall of the casting is formed with a similarly positioned U-shaped opening 34 cut into the rear wall, thus providing in effect slots for the reception of a roller axle 36. Certain portions of the front wall of the casting are extended as at 38 and buttressed to the side walls as at 39, thus providing stops preventing the door from shifting inward relative to the track. while the lower edge of `the rear wall is s turned inwardly as `at 48.

` a roller or similar device 46 journaled by means of bearings 48 upon the roller axle 36 previously referred to and which is guided within the slots in the casting. The roller is located substantially intermediate the ends of the axle which carries upon either side of the roller inner and outerV lever arms 50 and 52 respectively. Each of these lever` arms is of generally angular formation having the intermediate portion fulcrumed on the roller axle, while one end portion 53 of each is adapted to engage the rounded projection 22 formed on the casting. The other end 54 of the inner and outer lever arms is adapted to engage respectively with inner and outer carns 56 and 58 formed on a cam member 60. Each of the cams 56 and 58 are formed by at central portions 62 merging into rounded knobs 63 which in turn merge into the circular or main body portion of the cam member. The main body portion of the cam member is provided with inner and outer stop lugs 64 and 65 respectively located in such a position as to clear `the guiding ribs 24 and 26 and of such an extent as to engage the upper wall of the casting and prevent excessive rotation of the cam member. The cam member just described is formed with a squarev or other angular opening adapted to engage a squared or other angular shaped portion 66 formed on a cam shaft intermediate the rounded end 68 and the enlarged rounded end 16, each of which has bearing in openings 'l2 and 'i4 respectively formed in the outer and-inner walls of the casting adjacent the upper central portion thereof. The rounded end 68 projects outwardly from the casting to receive an operating handle lBU secured to the cam shaft by any suitable means such as pin 82 which will prevent rotation of the handle relative to the cam shaft. It will be obvious from the preceding description and drawings that the angular formed lifting levers are located Vto operate between the front and rear walls of the casting and the adjacent guiding flanges 24 and 26, thus insuring that the levers will move in a predetermined path and lessening any possibility of the levers becoming bent during service.

The device is readily applied to a car door by merely inserting the cam shaft through the openings in the casting and through the cam member after which the operating handle may be pinned or otherwise secured in position. After the operating handle, cam shaft and cam member are secured in the housing the entire housing'may be attached to the car door at the proper position and the preassembled roller, roller axle and lifting levers inserted from the bottom of the casting with the axle being guided by the U-shaped slots in thecasting. It will be obvious that this improved lifting device may be readily applied to existing doors with minimum of expense by merely discarding a single antifriction roller and substituting therefor the present improved lifting device. lt will also be obvious that by using the improved lifting device on new doors the first cost is reduced since it is only necessary to utilize a single lift device instead of the plurality of interconnected lift devices previously used.

In applying the improved lifting device to old cars it may be and probably will be necessary to change the exterior form of the housing or casting but such may be readily done without affecting the operation of the mechanism.

The operation of the lift device is as follows, assuming the parts to be in the normal position as shown in Figs. 1 to 5 with the door resting upon the track and the roller relieved of any door weight: Movement of the operating handle in either a clockwise or countercloekwise direction will cause one of the knobs 63 on the cams 56 and 58 to move the ends 54 of the lifting levers toward the adjacent side wall of the casting. Movement of the upper ends of these angle shaped levers toward the side wall of the casting will cause the levers to fulcrum on the axle 36 which is supported by the roller 46 resting on the track. Fulcruming of the levers about the axle will cause the ends 53 of the levers to exert a lift on the rounded projections 22 formed on the side walls of the casting and thus result in av lifting of the door free of the track since the roller and roller axle cannot move downward with respect to the track. Rotation of the operating handle and cams to a position which would permit the ends of the levers 54 to disengage the knobs 63 is prevented by the lugs 64 and 65 engaging the top wall of the casting dependent upon which direction the operating handle is moved. When the door has been lifted the parts will be in the position shown in Fig. 6 and as soon as the pressure on the operating handles has been released the door will immediately drop to its original position in which the door and casting rest upon the track. It will be seen that by forming each cam with two knobs 63 the handle may be moved in either direction dependent upon which direction the door is to be shifted. In other words, the force necessary to lift the door will be applied in the direction toward which the door is to be shifted.

. While the improved lifting device has. been described more or less in detail, it is obvious that changes may be made in the form of the housing casting or in the form and arrangement of the operating mechanism or the device may be applied at both corners of the door instead of one. All these changes and other modifications are contemplated as will fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. As an article of manufacture a door lift device comprising, a substantially closed housing having top side and end walls, vertically elongated slots formed in the side walls, stop shoulders formed on said end walls, antifriction means mounted on a shaft slidably carried in said slots, levers fulcrumed intermediate their ends on said shaft and each having one end engaging beneath said stop shoulders, and cam means rotatably carried by said housing side Walls and engageable with the other ends of said levers.

2. As an article of manufacture a door lift device comprising, a housing having top side and end Walls, vertically elongated. slots formed in the side walls, stop shoulders formed on said end walls, antifriction'means mounted on a shaft slidably carried in said slots, leversl fulcrumed intermediate their ends on said shaft and each having one end engaging beneath said stop shoulders, cam means rotatably carried by said housing sideA walls and engageable with the other c ends of said levers, and stop means formed on said cam means'and engageable with said top Wall to limit rotation of said cam means.

3. As an article of manufacture a door lift device comprising, a housing having top side and end Walls, vertically elongated slots formed in the side Walls, stop shoulders formed on said end Walls, antifriction means mounted on a shaft slidably carried in said sl-ots, a pair `of crossed levers fulcrumed intermediate their ends on said shaft and each having one end engaging beneath said stop shoulders, and cam means positioned between the other ends of said levers, said cam means being rotatably carried by said housing side Walls and rotatable to separate said other ends of said crossed levers.

4. Lift mechanism for a sliding lift door, said mechanism comprising a housing secured to the door, a roller mounted on an axle slidably carried in said housing for vertical movement relative thereto, levers fulcrumed intermediate their ends on said axle and having one end freely abutting the housing by contact engagement only, and operating means loosely engaging the other end of said levers and free of connection thereto and operable to shift said levers to lift the door.

5. Lift mechanism for a sliding lift door, said mechanism comprising a `housing secured to the door, a roller mounted on an axle slidably carried in said housing, a pair of crossed levers fulcrumed intermediate their ends on said axle and each having one end engaging said housing, and` operating means engaging the other ends of said levers and operable to separate said other ends thereby lifting the door.

6. Lift mechanism for a sliding lift door, said mechanism comprising a housing secured to the door and formed with stop shoulders and vertically elongated slots, an antifriction means mounted on a shaft slidably carried in said slots, levers fulcrumed intermediate their ends on said 8. Lift mechanism for a sliding lift door, said mechanism comprising a housing secured to the door and formed with stop shoulders and vertically elongated slots, an antifriction means mounted on a shaft slidably carried in said slots, a pair of crossed levers fulcrumed intermediate their ends on said shaft and each having one end engaging beneath said stop shoulders, cam

means engaging the other ends `of said levers to separate the same, and operating means connected to said cam means to rotate the same.

9. Lift mechanism for a sliding lift door, said mechanism comprising a housing secured to the 1 door and formed with stop shoulders and vertically elongated slots, an antifriction means mounted on a shaft slidably carried in said slots, a pair of crossed levers fulcrumed intermediate their ends on said shaft and each having one end engaging beneath said stop shoulders, cam

means engaging the other ends of said levers to' separate the same, and operating means connected to said cam means to rotate the same,

` end engaging beneath said stopshoulders, cam

means engaging the other ends `of said levers to separate the same, and operating means connected to said cam means to rotate the same, said cam means being provided With stop means engaging the housing to limit rotation thereof irrespective of the direction of rotation.

11. A lifting mechanism for sliding doors of railway cars, said mechanism including antifriction devices carried by the door adjacent each shaft and each having one end engaging said stop i shoulders, and operating means engaging the other ends of said levers and operable to shift said levers to lift the door.

7. Lift mechanism for a sliding lift door, said mechanism comprising a housing secured to the door and formed With stop shoulders and verti-` cally elongated slots, an antifriction means mounted on a shaft slidably carried in said slots, levers fulcrumed intermediate their ends on said shaft and each having one end engaging said stopshoulders, cam means engaging the other ends` of said levers to shift the same, and operating means connected to said cam means.

lower corner, at least one of said antifriction devices comprising a housing secured to the door, a roller mounted on an axle slidably carried by the housing for vertical movement relative thereto, levers fulcrumed intermediate their ends on said axle and having one end freely abutting the housing by contact engagement only, and operating means in contact engagement only with the other end of said levers and free of connection thereto and operable to shift said levers to lift said door.

ROBERT W. JOY. 

